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The lawsuit against Luxe Valet Inc. in the San Francisco County Superior Court was brought by a Valet Attendant who claims he should be classified as an employee, affording him and other Valet Attendants working for the new start up company benefits and protections that they don’t receive as independent contractors.

The high level of control, the suit claims, means the workers have been misclassified as independent contractors and are allegedly owed employee benefits, including, but not limited to, overtime pay and meal and rest breaks.

San Francisco, California (PRWEB)June 12, 2015

On May 22, 2015, the San Francisco labor law lawyers at Blumenthal Nordrehaug & Bhowmik filed a class action lawsuit against Luxe Valet Inc. alleging that the new valet service company illegally classifies their employees working as Valet Attendants as independent contractors in order to avoid paying Luxe Valet´s share of payroll taxes, overtime wages, and providing the proper meal and rest breaks in accordance with California law. The Luxe Valet class action is currently pending in the San Francisco County Superior Court, Case No. CGC-15-545961. A copy of the Complaint can be read here.

According to the Complaint, Luxe Valet Inc, is a recent startup that lets users book Valet Attendants through a mobile application (very similar to Uber's and Lyft's applications) to come and park their vehicles. Luxe allegedly classifies the Valet Attendants as independent contractors. But according to the lawsuit filed by a former Valet Attendant, the startup allegedly takes a very broad interpretation of an independent contractor relationship. The Complaint alleges Luxe has the right to control every critical aspect of Luxe's daily valet services operations in that the company allegedly provides the customer and allegedly provides step-by-step instructions to the Valet Attendants as to the "entire process of parking the vehicle" and interacting with Luxe's customers.

The lawsuit claims the Company requires their Valet Attendants to follow a detailed script when greeting Luxe's customers, even allegedly making sure to tell them they work for Luxe. The Complaint further claims that the company tells their Valet Attendants where to enter certain parking lots, where to park the vehicles, how to inspect the vehicles for damage, how to secure customers' keys, and how to pick up and return the car to Luxe's customers.

The high level of control, the suit claims, means the workers have been misclassified as independent contractors and are allegedly owed employee benefits, including, but not limited to, overtime pay and meal and rest breaks.

It’s the latest in a string of misclassification lawsuits filed across the State of California aimed at startups that allegedly exploit the independent contractor model to save on labor costs.

If you are working as an independent contractor and feel like you should be treated as an employee, call an experienced labor law attorney at Blumenthal, Nordrehuag & Bhowmik at (415) 935-3957 or click here for free California labor law advice.

Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik is a California employment law firm with offices in San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, Riverside and Los Angeles. The firm only represents employees and focuses on claims involving violations of the California Labor Code, including, but not limited to, wrongful termination, missed meal breaks, overtime pay issues, unpaid commissions and being forced to work off the clock.